


Every Possible Option

by Brickman



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Not a Happy Story, Other characters come and go as needed, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel as an excuse to open every other scene In Media Res
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-17 21:12:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14839253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brickman/pseuds/Brickman
Summary: Flowey really wants to destroy the Barrier keeping everyone underground. He is not succeeding.





	1. Wasting Time

**Author's Note:**

> Story inspired by Flowey's speech in New Home in the genocide route.

**Reset ???+562, Try 7, Day 12**

The two bird-brains couldn't be making more noise if they tried. Their idea of "sneaking" into Alphys' basement lab involves stopping every few steps to "whisper" at the top of their lungs, and their idea of a tiptoe somehow makes even more noise. Not that it matters. I've bought them at least twelve more minutes before Alphys gets back, and none of her other freaks would hurt these kids.

"T-this place is s-super whack," says Chilldrake, trying to act brave and failing miserably. "W-What do you think she's doing down here?"

"I don't know," says the much braver Snowdrake. "But we're not leaving 'till we find out. And we're not leaving without my mom."

A screen lights up with a friendly beep as they walk past, helpfully explaining exactly what Alphys was doing down here, but the teenagers ignore it. Unseen in the shadows, I roll my eyes. Typical.

"Y-yeah, that's right," says Chilldrake. "B-but what are we gonna do if she's, uh... you know. Not here anymore?"

Snowy begins to respond, but stops himself as he notices the approaching cacophony of barks and panting. "Uh oh, run for it!"

The kids barely make it three steps before the dog freak is on top of them, licking both their faces with at least four tongues. I shouldn't be surprised. All that noise, and their smell still gave them away first.

They waste a good three minutes failing to push the dogs off them before the blob containing Snowy's mom arrives. By now the entire rest of the lab is watching. The dogs shuffle out of the way as soon as they see she's interested, but the kids don't even notice her until she speaks.

"Sno...wy?" she croaks. As usual, it takes her ages just to spit out one word.

"Mom?" asks Snowdrake, unbelieving. "Is that really you?"

"Sno...wy," she wheezes happily. Snowy's mom may be the worst talker in the whole underground, and that's counting the dogs.

"It is you!" shouts Snowdrake, rushing to hug her and then sinking all the way into her body. He's coughing for breath when he pulls himself out of the sticky mass. "But... what did she do to you? You look like you're hurt."

"No... Snowy... I'm... happy..." she manages, burning a good half a minute.

For his part, Chilldrake is standing awkwardly a couple feet away. He's desperately trying not to look like he's watching this sappy display, stubborn to the end. Even when it's stupid. I'm the only monster paying him any attention, and nobody knows I'm here.

I'm saved from having to watch much more of the slow-motion reunion when Alphys bursts onto the scene, breathless. She bends over to take a deep breath, and is about to spit out a question when she sees who is present and dies on her feet.

"You!" shouts Snowy, rounding on her. "You did this! What did you do to my mom?"

And it's all over from this point. Snowy advances as Alphys backs away. Snowy shouts accusation after accusation. Chilldrake, emboldened by his friend, joins in with even wilder accusations. Alphys barely makes it two words into any sentence before she gets trampled down. Most of the freaks watch in panic but don't intervene.

Snowy's mom tries to say something, but the kids have already advanced three accusations by the time she finishes her second word. So she gets ignored.

I don't even need to watch from here. When Snowy finds out without his dad present, he usually takes it pretty bad. When anybody finds out on their own without being told, the response is ugly. Combine the two, and it's a guarantee.

I leave the lab. I don't need to stick around for Snowdrake's immature variant on the "wait until I tell Asgore" threat, or the pitiful begging that I can already recite word for word. This is happening on a Tuesday, so it'll be Friday by the time Alphys throws herself over the waterfall, Monday before anyone notices, Thursday again before Undyne starts to channel her depression into a self-destructive training regimen, and _god dammit I've done this already_.

What was I even hoping to get out of this timeline? Help the boys smuggle the blob out of the lab? Fat chance! She's the slowest of the lot and these kids wouldn't know stealth if it threw a wall of bullets at them. It'd be fun watching them try to feed her without anyone's help, but I'd have to lure Alphys away for a whole day. This timeline's a bust, I didn't prepare near enough.

Not sure I even want to try again. There's no point. I know how to get her to reveal the freak show so everyone accepts it, I know how to keep her job afterwards. I know the families can take care of the freaks without her. Hell, if I wanted I've still got time to pop back in and say the right thing to salvage this mess. I already know how to solve all their problems, I'm just wasting time. And I've got too much time.

There's only one problem left that's worth a damn, and it's the one thing I can't do.

I need to destroy the Barrier.


	2. Research

**Reset ???+565, Try 4, Day 29**

"Here boy," I shout, waving the next dog treat in the air. "You want the treat right? Come follow the treat!"

The dog blob flings itself (themselves?) through the air, engulfing the treat and leaving a sticky residue on my vine. It then splatters all over the walkway, again. The dogs can't walk in this state, they're even more melty than usual. And that's _without_ Hotland's heat. I should have waited until we were there to inject it, this is taking forever.

Wait for the dogs to reform, wave treat, lunge forward, splatter, repeat. All of the goo that is my fellow freak sticks together, even when it splats, so there's no danger of losing some to the lava. The only real danger is that it'll shift and ruin the trajectory when we have to cross a steam vent. That, or we'll run into--

"Ack! What happened to you?"

Another monster. It's old Joe from that coffee shop in the capital. Shouldn't he be at the festival with everyone else? No, now I think of it, I've never seen him there before noon unless I meddle. I guess he always took a walk around Hotland first?

Joe's freaking out now, and taking pictures of the dogs on his phone. Ugh, I do not want to deal with this. I picked today for a reason! Screw this.

* * *

**Reset ???+565, Try 5, Day 29**

I leave the dogs behind and rush ahead. It doesn't take long to find Joe, walking directly towards the exact wrong intersection. Well, for Joe there's always the easy solution. I pop out of the ground behind him, snatch his glasses with a vine, and toss them in the lava.

"My glasses! Who did that? Help!" Joe is shouting up a storm, but anyone who could possibly hear him is at the festival.

Joe's not dumb enough to wander Hotland alone without his glasses. As soon as he calms down he's going to call his sister for help. I know for a fact she's at the event in the capital, so I've bought myself twenty minutes minimum. A little cruel, but if this plan actually works I can go back later and do it cleaner.

It's not gonna work though.

We don't run into anyone else until I reach the resort entrance. This next part took some thought--the lobby is still staffed, and I have to pass through to get to New Home. The solution to this one is also messy: Sneak into the restaurant and start a fire that's _just_ big enough to be all-hands-on-deck. Good thing I've got so much practice doing both.

I skip the elevator and head straight for the Core. One nice thing about the festival is that there's no wait list to rearrange the Core, so it's a straight shot to New Home.

I'm somehow still ahead of schedule so we wait another twelve minutes at the elevator, until I know Dad's left the house. Deserted streets pass quickly and before you know it, I'm standing in front of the Barrier.

I hate this place. That low hum never goes away, the shifting lights make me queasy. If I stand here too long I start to remember things, things I don't want to think about, things I can't handle without a soul...

No. I came here for a reason. I already know it won't work. Alphys was sure it won't work, that it's the wrong kind of energy (not that I'd told her what I was planning). But I have to try once. I whistle to the dog blob and wave one final treat, right in front of the wall of light. The dogs lunge...

and splatter against the Barrier. It might as well be every flat surface we've crossed in the last hour. I might as well have not tried.

Crap.

Before we left the lab I injected this lump with Alphys' entire remaining stockpile of human Determination. The dogs already had the highest dosage (and most souls) of the lab freaks that aren't me. I just tripled it. No effect.

And with that, I can strike out one of the last remaining methods for beefing up a soul. DT doesn't work, not even with the entire supply we have available. Monsters can't absorb monster souls. Dad won't let anyone near the human souls. I woke up too late to alter which test subjects melted together, and they can't change places now.

There's so many souls on the other side. Up there, humans die every day and nobody cares. That's what Chara said. That was the plan. I just need to get one monster across, any monster...

But it's hopeless. I'm not just out of good ideas, I'm out of ideas period. I'll never shatter the Barrier, we'll never make our people happy, monsterkind will never see the sun, I'll never keep my promise...

I smack myself with a vine, hard. I need to get away from the Barrier. I should just burrow away. But I spent this whole timeline setting up for a dead end. Now's as good a time as any to ditch it.

* * *

**Reset ???+567, Try 1, Day 1**

If I want Alphys to do any actual research, I need to get to her early. Really early. Before she's had time to dwell on her accomplishments. Before she's had time to realize that everything she's ever touched has ended in disaster.

I also have to tell a lot of lies.

"That's everything I know," I tell Alphys, which is a lie. "I'm not looking for pity and I'm not looking for an apology. Are you ready to work?"

Unsurprisingly, she is not ready to work yet.

"Oh my god," she babbles. "I'm so sorry! If I knew the effects of not having a soul, I'd have..."

I raise my voice to cut her off, a tactic that always works against Alphys. "I _said_ , I don't want your pity. Or an apology. I just want to help you break the Barrier, any way we can. If you free our kingdom, I can forgive you for just about anything." Another lie, and a big one at that.

"Well, I can try," says Alphys, overcoming her guilt with help from my lies. "But! I don't even know where to start. Won't I just be trying things I already did in another timeline?"

"That's where I come in!" I say, faking cheer. "I tell you what the other Alphys' have already tried, and pass along messages. Tell you what the other yous were going to work on next when they ran out of time."

This part is almost the truth. The only lies are the implication that Alphys is coming up with the ideas, and the implication that the "time limit" before a reset isn't "whenever Flowey runs out of ideas and Alphys stops making progress".

I keep going. "Right before the end of the last timeline, you were trying to merge the amalgamates together. They seem stable, but you've still got a reserve of DT. There might be some way."

"Are you sure?" asks Alphys. "It could work, but it seems so cruel. They're already in pain, that would just make it worse. Did I really suggest that?"

"No, _they_ suggested it," I lie. "The amalgamates want to see the sun just as much as anyone. You can't really make their situation any worse. And if it works, Asgore will have no choice but to let them absorb the human souls. That might be exactly what we need to fix their condition."

"If you say so," says Alphys. "It sounds hard, but... if it can make up for my mistakes, I'll do anything!"

"I'm glad to hear it!" I say. "In the meantime, do you mind if I read through all your lab notes again? I might come up with another idea we can use. We can touch base later."

* * *

**Reset ???+567, Try 1, Day 14**

It's later.

Alphys has no good news to report. Even with extra DT, the current amalgamates are stable. They can't be merged further.

I have no good news to report. Oh, I found the answer I was looking for. The way to create a stronger soul just with the people down here. But I'm not about to report that. I'm not about to _do_ it either.

Monster souls can't become stronger, because monsters can't absorb monster souls. But the answer wasn't just staring me in the face. It was staring me in the mirror.


	3. Practice

**Reset ???+580, Try 1, Day 3**

Compared to New Home, Home is just brimming with bright colors. That's one thing we did wrong when we moved. More importantly, I only have happy memories here. I can't remember the feelings it should invoke, but at least they're not _bad_. There's worse things than feeling numb. It beats looking at the bedroom in New Home, the room where me and Chara...

No. Focus. The point is, I know that if I still had a soul, being here would make me smile. For now. Given what I'm about do, that won't be true much longer.

Mom is sitting by the fire, reading a book and knitting that one blanket. Rereading? It's gotta be rereading. She'll always be reading the same book and knitting the same blanket if I visit her today. If I don't interrupt she'll always stop on the same chapter, with the same dumb mistake in the blanket's corner. But she must have already read the book. She's been here for years, and it only took me two weeks to read all her books. Maybe we're in the same boat.

I'm stalling. I know I'm stalling. I don't want to do this. I have to do this.

She's so absorbed in what she's doing, she doesn't even know I'm here. It's all too easy to form the bullets silently, to send them flying through the air...

**3\. 5. 2.**

"What... who did that?" she shouts, dropping everything. She stands from her chair and whips around to see me, cowering in the doorway, probably looking pathetic.

"Oh," she says, anger already gone. "Who are you? Do you need help, little one? You should be more careful with your magic, you could hurt someone."

She walks forward with a hand outstretched, her guard is still down, she's still vulnerable, and I... I..

* * *

**Reset ???+580, Try 2, Day 3**

I can't do it.

Even with the future of monsterkind at stake, I can't make myself attack Mom and mean it. Could I do Dad first? No, that won't be any easier. Right now he's busy writing a lecture he'll give at the school next week. That's much worse.

Besides, it has to be Mom first. People will notice right away if Dad disappears. But Mom? Sans won't visit until the day after tomorrow, and he'll be the  _first_ person to notice. I can definitely reach New Home in that time.

If I want to have a soul stronger than the strongest monster, it has to be both. I have to... kill... both of them.

...

I need a practice round. Someone I don't know about or care about. Someone who isn't important.

The Ruins has lots of monsters who aren't important.

It doesn't take long to find a froggit. There's at least a dozen scattered around the ruins, and I can't even tell them apart. Nobody who isn't a froggit can tell them apart. No one will notice a missing froggit.

"Hello," it ribbits, in its own language. "It is a nice day today. Did you know it is raining on the surface? If you go stand under the sun hole, you can feel rain. You should hurry."

If I had a soul, it acting so polite would make this even harder. Instead, I feel nothing. Ha! I grab onto that idea, focus on it, form my bullets, and shoot...

**7\. 6. 9.**

"Ow," croaks the froggit. "What are you doing? That really hurt."

Dust is leaking off the froggit in streams. It tries to hop away, but I'm not going to let it. I prepare another volley of bullets and fire.

**12\. Miss. 13.**

The last bullet tears clean through the froggit, scattering dust in all directions. I didn't even see its soul for an instant. It wasn't like with Chara, where the soul slowly drifted and spread apart like a drop of soap in water. The books were right. When a monster dies, their soul is just gone.

Is it in the dust? No, if it was there I'd still have mine.

Maybe I should do something with the dust? I never pay attention to the froggits, I don't know where it would want its dust. It said something about the sun hole, but... that's Chara's place now. I'm not going to put some random froggit there.

I should ignore the dust. It would take forever to sweep it up out here, and I don't know enough to put it anywhere. Besides, Mom's very strong. I'm gonna need more practice than that.

A panicked scream announces the arrival of a whimsum at the scene of the crime. Well, if it's going to volunteer...


	4. Mom

**Reset ???+580, Try 3, Day 3**

I've now killed three froggits, two whimsums, a loox and a vegetoid. I think I'm ready.

I reloaded when I was done, of course. If this works I could be on the surface for a while before I reset. No point leaving all those monsters dead.

Mom's still in the same chair where I left her. I was only gone about five minutes from her perspective. Her guard is still down...

**46\. 49. 37.**

Yes! That's more like it! The attacks cut deep and knock her out of her chair onto hands and knees.

She doesn't stay down long.

"I'll give you one warning," she snarls, standing up and getting a good look at me. This time there is no sympathy or confusion. "Leave now and don't let me catch you here again."

"You think I'm scared of you?" I taunt. "I attacked first!"

"Very well," she replies, and then with a wave of her hand... oh shit! Fire everywhere.

**17.**

Ow ow ow. I guess there wasn't much defense during my "practice". But I've come too far. I can still do this! I summon up more bullets.

**21\. 18. 22.**

What? That didn't hit as hard... oh right, she was expecting it this time. Speaking of which, I duck underground just in time to dodge the same attack as before.

**Miss.**

Ha! I prep my next volley of bullets, and she does the same.

**20\. Miss. 17.**

**Miss.**

**23\. 19. 19.**

** 25. **

* * *

**Reset ???+580, Try 4, Day 3**

Bullets from both sides? No fair!

The pain is gone the instant I return, just like always. It's always a little jarring, when I don't reset on purpose. One second I'm doing one thing, the next second I'm back here. Still beats the alternative.

Mom's still in the other room, reading. Do I need a new approach? My attacks still aren't strong enough, and Mom's fire magic is scary. But... I'm way better at dodging than her. She can't take hits like that forever, right? I can at least try the direct approach a few more times, see if I'm making progress.

I prepare my first volley of bullets...

* * *

**Reset ???+580, Try 11, Day 3**

 

**25\. 24. 102.**

Mom drops to her knees, and the bullets she was summoning fizzle out. There's a hole in her chest. Dust is spilling out of it. _She_ is spilling out of it.

"Please," she begs. The hole is growing wider. "Someone has... to watch..."

Whatever she was going to say next is replaced by a horrible cough. Then another. By now there's not enough of herself left inside her chest to speak. After a few seconds her body gives up entirely. Dust scatters through the air in all directions. And somewhere in the middle...

A soul. It's not as bright as Chara's, and it's the wrong color, but there's no mistaking it. The books say I only have a few seconds, but I already know what to do. I lash out with a vine, grab it, and  _absorb_.

...

It's all over. Did it work? I don't feel any different, not like with Chara. Should I be able to tell the difference?

"Why? Why did you do that?"

Mom's voice? Oh, of course. Chara could still talk to me, when I absorbed their soul. Of course it's the same for her.

"I'm sorry," I say out loud, though I don't feel sorry. "I have to free everyone."

"Asgore's madness is not enough?"

I think that was a question, but I don't respond. I'm not telling her my plan. I'm in full control of my body, but... I don't want her talking me out of this.

Instead, I fetch a broom, a dustpan and a bag from the hall closet. This isn't some random froggit or whimsum. I'm not about to leave bits of Mom scattered everywhere.

I can do that much.

It's slow work, but eventually I've swept up every bit of white dust in the room. Also some normal gray dust and dirt, and bits of stuffing from the chair (we made a mess of the room). There's no avoiding it, but that's ok. It's not very clean where we're going next.

"I'm taking you to the garden, so you can keep Chara company. Is that okay?"

There's some hesitation before she says "Yes."

It's actually a pretty long walk between Home and the garden. This part of the Ruins was meant to be defensible, not convenient: Lots of linear hallways and puzzles that are only designed to be possible from one side. It was built for a fighting retreat. Kinda funny that when humans finally found us, they came from the wrong end.

Mom tries to talk to me several times while we're traveling, but I don't respond. A few froggits try to greet me as well, but I dismiss them as quickly as I can without being rude.

Finally, we're here. Rain is coming down hard from the hole in the ceiling, just like the froggit said. I don't know if that makes this easier or harder.

I dump the bag out directly into the center of the downpour (which would be the center of the light, if there were any light today). The water dissolves it instantly, as if it was never there. That's ok. That just means she'll be spread more thoroughly. She'll be in the flowers when they grow.

I still don't regret killing Mom. I don't feel anything at all, which should be horrible and scary but just feels like nothing. Being empty is easier now that I'm used to it.

I can't feel sorry about Mom, but I still feel... something about Chara. Especially standing here. I think this is regret? I can't remember what it's supposed to feel like, but I think hating yourself counts as regret.

"I'm sorry," I say. It seems appropriate even if it's a lie. "I'm sorry to both of you. I'm going to fulfill my promise, Chara."

"Asriel?" says Mom, almost immediately. Of course I couldn't slip  _that_ one past her. "Asriel, is that you? What happened to you, Asriel? What promise did you make?"

I don't dare say any more. I just turn and burrow away, the same way I came. It's a long trip from here to New Home.


	5. Dad

**Reset ???+580, Try 11, Day 4**

Dad is in the garden, exactly where he should be. The rain yesterday made the ground soft, so he's planting flower seeds. Dad doesn't believe in neat rows when it comes to the garden, he says that's not the way flowers grow on the surface. He just plants clusters wherever he thinks there's room.

Mom hasn't shut up this whole time.

"Asriel," she pleads. "Whatever you are planning, please reconsider! We're better off down here. If Asgore makes it to the surface, there is no telling how many lives will be lost."

I chuckle and whisper back to her. "You don't have to worry about that, at least."

It takes her a second to understand my meaning. She shouts her objection just as I'm preparing the bullets.

**61\. 56. 57.**

Mom is screaming at me.

"Undyne," calls Dad, trying his best to mask a grunt of pain. His back is still to me. "I told you I will not spar with you in the garden. Please wait until I... you're not Undyne."

"I'm not Undyne," I agree.

"What do you want, then?" he asks, not seeming to grasp the severity of the situation. Unseen, I begin forming my next volley of bullets.

"I want to destroy the Barrier," I say.

His face falls at this, just like it always does. "I cannot grant you the human souls."

"I know that. I'm taking yours instead." With that, I attack again.

**31\. 27. 29.**

He summons a trident made out of his magic, and prepares to counterattack.

The battle is on.

* * *

**Reset ???+580, Try 15, Day 4**

Dad was always a little stronger than Mom, but he wasn't that much stronger. There was never any doubt in my mind that I would win.

Having two monster souls inside me doesn't feel any different than one, or zero. If they didn't keep talking I might think it didn't work. It definitely wasn't like this when I absorbed Chara's soul. But... my body right now is made of physical matter, not dust and magic. Maybe that's why.

There's no point collecting Dad's dust. We're already in the garden, where he'd want them scattered. Though, we kind of made a mess of the place. More than half the plants were burned to death, and big chunks of dirt were torn up. I wonder if anyone will take care of his garden now that he's gone.

I... don't know. I actually don't know something about how people are going to act. How long has it been since I could say that?

...

No time to waste. I now have the strongest soul in the Underground. I now have the strongest soul _possible_ in the underground. It's time to leave.

It only takes a few seconds to go from the garden to the Barrier. I pause for a second despite myself, take a deep breath, steel myself,

and walk straight into a wall.

No.

No.

No no no no no no no no!

This has to be enough soul power. I have the strongest two souls in the underground. Alphys confirmed it with her tests, this _is_ the type of power the Barrier responds to. It just... isn't enough power.

"I'm sorry, Asriel," says Dad. "But this is for the best."

"For the best?" I shout out loud, feeling a rush of pure, undiluted emotion. I never had trouble feeling anger. Funny how I got to keep the bad ones.

"How can you say that?" I shout at the shifting lights in an empty room. "Your people are suffering here, living their whole lives and dying in this pit, and you refuse to lift a finger. No, you made it worse. You locked up all the souls that could possibly get us out of here, sat on them and refused to budge. And now even this didn't work, and, and, this was my last idea!"

Dad waits until I'm done yelling, and puts on his best Solemn Voice. "If we break the Barrier, there will be war with the humans. We will kill them, or they will kill us. It is better to remain here."

"Even with you dead?" I ask. "No one else can get at the souls. With you dead, the Underground has lost its king _and_ its hope in one swoop. Monsters die without hope, Dad. How many do you think will die this time?"

Dad is silent. Mom is silent. Nobody likes to talk about it, and I sure wasn't around to see it. But I read the census reports. There were an awful lot of deaths within one year of mine.

"We're in luck. You can still fix that. You can still teach me the spell to reveal the human souls. They've lost their king, but we can still give them the sun."

I really don't want this to be the trick, the method that actually works to make Dad reveal the souls. But if it is, I'm not about to pass it up.

"No," he says. "With you in this state, war is inevitable. I won't allow you to take the human souls."

"Maybe," I say. "You're going to have a lot of time to change your mind."


	6. An Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For best effect, read while listening to the song "An Ending" from the game's OST.

 

**Reset ???+580, Try 15, Day 34**

It's been an eventful month in the Underground. King Asgore didn't plan well for his death.

It didn't take long to figure out that Asgore's "mysterious disappearance" was actually a "mysterious murder", since I didn't bother to clean up in the garden. A few days later it rained again, and washed his dust into the soil. A lot of monsters think he was killed by a human assassin, especially since he was so close to the Barrier.

There was some effort to find the exiled Queen. After three days people got their act together and demolished the door to the Ruins. Home showed every sign of the Queen having lived there, and no sign of her living there now. Monsters in the Ruins confirmed they hadn't seen her since the day before Asgore died. Horrible as it was, everyone drew the right conclusion.

Two days after they reestablished contact with the Ruins, Undyne was crowned Queen of the Underground. Her plan is to distract everyone from their grief by throwing themselves into their work "one hundred percent". They're trying to fix up the old capital in the Ruins. They're making good progress on the buildings, but it's not working very well as therapy.

At first Undyne was convinced that a human must have killed Asgore. But since learning that the Queen died too, on the opposite end of the underground, she's a lot less sure. She still wants to go to war with the humans, but there's no obvious way of doing so without the souls.

I was expecting Old Man Gerson to help Undyne in her new post, but... that's not happening. He was already a few screws loose in his old age, and the sudden tragedy didn't help him any.

About a third of the population has fallen down. There were a lot within the first week, and a few more each day since Undyne's coronation. It's slowed to a trickle by now.

A few of the older schoolchildren finished planting seeds in Dad's garden, but they did a bad job of it. They've only remembered to water it once since then. It won't look very pretty, but I'm sure at least something will grow. The kids are doing better than the adults at this "holding on to hope" thing.

...

"Are you ready to tell me how to get the souls?"

"The answer is still no."

I'm hiding out in a quiet corner of Waterfall, somewhere that's almost impossible to reach without burrowing. I don't know anyone's schedules anymore and I don't want to risk using my Save, so I need to be sure no one can hear me talking to myself. Also, it's better I avoid monsters as much as possible right now. Froggits aren't the smartest and I don't think anyone connected me with Toriel's disappearance, but I can't exactly ask if anyone's looking for a monster that looks like me.

"Are you sure?" I ask. "Monsters are still falling down from grief. And Undyne isn't doing a good job at changing that."

"Undyne is a fine leader," Dad replies. "But she is hot-headed. If she has the power of the souls, she will surely go to war."

"It doesn't have to be Undyne," I say. "Or me! We could give the souls to, I dunno, Papyrus. He wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Then how will he break the Barrier?" asks Mom. I already explained to them what Chara said about humans dying on the surface, but I don't think they believed me. Besides, it  _is_ Papyrus.

"It does not matter who has the souls," says Dad. "Undyne is the Queen, and Undyne will not be able to make peace."

I almost, almost blurt out "What if Undyne's not in charge?", but I stop myself. More death isn't going to make them trust me, and they don't know I can rewind time. If I tell them that, I have to admit I can fix the problem.

"Much as it pains me," says Toriel, after I'm silent for too long, "your father is correct. Our people would be much better off if he had reached this conclusion earlier."

It's no use. Things were looking dicey for the first week, but the situation is stable. Almost everyone who's going to fall down already has, so I have no leverage. My first plan didn't work, and my backup plan didn't work, and I'm tired. I've spent more time talking to my parents in the last month than I have in the last decade and I still feel  _nothing_.

This timeline is all new, but... I kinda just want to hang out with Papyrus, or watch the Snowdin kids have an innocent snowball fight, or play a prank on Sans. Even if I can't feel it right, I need a palette cleanser. A month straight of watching everyone suffer is too much.

It's pretty obvious by now that Dad is more stubborn than me, and this won't work. The only question is how long I'm going to wait.


	7. The Festival

**Reset ???+581, Try 5, Day 29**

At precisely 12:59 pm, the band finishes their song and doesn't start a new one. Lights dim everywhere except the stage, where they brighten seconds before Mettaton steps out. He timed things as well as ever.

"Good afternoon, beauties and gentlebeauties," he calls out. "Is everyone enjoying today's Festival?"

A wave of cheers washes through the crowd, and Mettaton waits for silence before he continues.

"I'm just thrilled to hear it! Seeing your happy faces is my greatest treasure. But! Today of all days, I can't claim all the credit. This year's Festival was the result of weeks of hard work from many monsters. And there's one monster in particular who went above and beyond. One monster who toiled day in and day out to ensure that this year's Freedom Festival would be the greatest to date. Why, he may have played an even bigger role than yours truly!"

"So before I announce the winners of the raffle, I'd like to invite that monster to the stage to say a few words. Flowey, if you're out there, please join me on the stage."

Of course he knows I'm waiting in the front row of the audience, next to the stairs. Mettaton's no dummy. He warns me about this part a week in advance, every time, so I have time to prepare my speech.

I don't need a week to prepare a speech, of course. I already have three old speeches to pick from. "Festival Organizer Flowey" is my go-to timeline whenever I feel like playing hero. It has a nice narrative arc, and I like the built-in time limit.

I wasn't very invested in this timeline at first. This was just to recharge my sanity after last timeline went... the way it went. It wasn't until halfway through that I realized this could be a good jumping off point for something more important.

Which meant I _did_ need to prepare a new speech.

The cheers for me as I board the stage are even louder than the cheers Mettaton got during his speech. He planned on that, but some nasty part of me still loves it. Just for today, they like me better.

That's not the smile I paint on my face, of course. For the crowd today it's all cheer and innocence and a bit of nervousness. Just pretend I'm Asriel giving a big speech in public, and do what he'd do.

"Thank you Mettaton," I say, intentionally speaking way too quiet. Then, with "growing confidence", I repeat it much louder. "Thank you Mettaton, and thank you, everyone. You're all much, much too kind. Really, anyone could have done this."

"When I look out over this crowd, I don't just see monsters. I see Gerson, who helped me prepare the food being given away at the food court. I see Papyrus and Mr. Bearington, who helped me for hours setting up the rides for you to enjoy. But even more than that... I see the innkeeper who gave me a place to stay when I didn't have any money. I see Undyne, who couldn't imagine a better use for her time than helping a newcomer find his place in a strange new world. I see Grillby, who let the bills slide when he saw how hard I was working on this. I see so many kind and helpful faces, and, and..."

I pause to wipe away a few fake tears. "That's what I'm hoping we're able to take to the surface with us. I know the humans have taken so much from us, but... they can't take that away. When we do reach the surface, I hope you all continue to be the same people you are now. Humans may be stronger than monsters, but we can be better than humans. We'll show them that."

It's not quite the speech they were expecting, and that shows in the audience reactions. Some of them are crying and eating it up, but some look confused. A few are even angry.

I couldn't care less. There's only one person in that crowd who matters, and he's hanging on my every word.

"So I hope you all enjoy the rest of what we've got planned today. I want you to enjoy it as my thank you to everyone for all their kindness. But I hope that, someday soon, when we reach the surface... that you all continue to be the kind of people that could make this happen again. Thank you."

The applause as I leave the stage is a lot more scattered than the applause when I got up here. Mettaton is caught off-guard, but it only takes him a few seconds to get things back on track.

Mettaton wasn't expecting my pro-kindness speech, no question about that. But he rolls with it. As the day goes on I recognize a few spots in his prepared speeches where he slides in peace-loving rhetoric. He sells it a lot better than me, since he's speaking for the crowd instead of one person.

Mettaton doesn't want a war any more than Dad.

* * *

**Reset ???+581, Try 5, Day 32**

"I am sorry Flowey, but I cannot."

Dammit. After all that work... well, ok. I didn't work very hard on this one. I was halfway through before I realized it was a plan. But still, how stubborn can he be?

I stare upward at him, sitting on his throne, and try my best to keep looking innocent. "I don't understand. Aren't there more humans up there? If we just take the souls we've got, I'm sure we could find one more human who's old, or sick, or... something. We only need one more!"

Dad--no, Asgore sighs. "Flowey, I treasure your innocence. There is good in your heart, and I know you would do the right thing with the souls. But you have never met a human. You didn't live through the war. You haven't lost..." he trails off.

"That was a long time ago, right? What if they've changed?"

It occurs to me too late that that was an insensitive thing to say to a man who's lost children. Ugh. At least it was in character.

Asgore, kind and patient to a fault, ignores it. "They haven't. Not enough. Flowey, the fallen humans spoke to some monsters before they were captured. We know what it's like up there. Humanity has not grown kind."

"But surely they're not all like that."

"They don't have to all be like that," says Asgore. "A single violent human can kill dozens of monsters. A single greedy human can ruin countless families. Flowey, I have seen it. Please, do not ask me to expose my people to this again."

If I were doing this blind, at this point I'd ask him what he plans to do when he gets the final soul. He would claim he's not sure, and have to admit he's stalling, and then he'd clam up entirely and that would be the end of it for this timeline.

Instead, I nod slowly. "I understand, I think. But if you change your mind, um, I still volunteer to be the one who goes."

Asgore smiles. "Thank you Flowey. I will keep you in mind."

Just as I'm leaving, he calls out. "One more thing. Flowey, I hope you understand that this conversation should stay between us?"

"Of course," I say, and then I leave.

Letting him stew on the decision has never worked before, but it's still worth a try. I'll give him another week while I plan for the next timeline. After that... I might as well at least _try_ revealing what he said before I go.

I've already got a vague plan for the next timeline. There's an old saying about honey and vinegar. It didn't work this time, but I think I can sweeten the deal a bit more.


End file.
